Allegations that RCMP officers in British Columbia abused aboriginal women suggest that the force has a corrosive trust issue to address, at least with some women in some areas of their operation. It’s time to shed light on the problems and propose remedies.

Laurie Odjick's, back left, whose daughter Maisy has been missing since 2008, and NDP MP Niki Ashton, back right, look on as Bridget Tolley speaks at a press conference in Ottawa Thursday.

Published on Fri Feb 15 2013

Relations between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and some First Nations women in this country are fraying to the breaking point. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government needs to get a handle on the issue. Urgently.

Allegations that RCMP officers in northern British Columbia along the infamous Highway of Tears have mistreated, abused and assaulted aboriginal women need to be fully investigated following a disturbing report this week by a respected rights organization that cast yet another shadow over the force’s already-battered reputation.

More than 50 aboriginal women and girls told Human Rights Watch troubling tales of being roughed up by RCMP officers during arrests, strip-searched and injured, the Star’s Petti Fong reports. Girls were Tasered and pepper-sprayed; one was bitten by a police dog. One woman said she had been raped and threatened with death. Some of the cases have been publicized or are being investigated. Still, the women were reluctant to be named, fearing more trouble. No woman in Canada should harbour such a fear.

That makes Harper’s reply in Parliament on Wednesday to questions about this issue little short of fatuous. He urged people to go to “the appropriate police so that they can investigate.” “Just get on and do it,” he said. RCMP Chief Superintendent Janice Armstrong also urged people to come forward “without fear of retaliation.”

But just how is that supposed to work when alleged victims are too afraid to lodge complaints? That some native women feel that Mounties can misbehave with impunity and can’t be relied on should itself raise concerns. The RCMP’s 19,000 uniformed officers clearly have a corrosive trust issue to address, at least in some areas of their operation. It’s time to shed light on the problems and propose remedies.

Stung by criticism, Harper has asked the independent Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP to look into claims raised in the report. That’s a start. Separately the opposition in Parliament and the Assembly of First Nations are pressing for a public inquiry into the long-neglected issue of 600 murdered or missing women.

This push for accountability comes just as complaints commission chair Ian McPhail has released an insightful report into the RCMP’s internal culture of dealing with complaints of workplace bullying, sexual harassment and other abuse. That report validates concerns raised by native women.

While McPhail found that the RCMP is no better or worse than comparable employers when it comes to internal harassment he noted that the lack of systematic reporting makes it “impossible to say” whether complaints were properly handled or resolved. They took far too long to process, up to four years, the Star’s Tonda MacCharles reports. Tellingly, some complainants felt that adjudicators were “protecting their own,” or were biased. And some no doubt were too intimidated or fearful for their careers to complain.

If that is how female RCMP officers feel about their own, it’s little wonder that traumatized native women hesitate to come forward.

McPhail’s report calls for better tracking of the harassment issue, better training for supervisors and investigators, faster resolution and regular, public evaluations of progress or the lack of it. He calls for “swift and effective action” to restore the trust both of abused RCMP officers, and the public. Let’s hope the commission brings the same sense of urgency and focus on accountability to its probe of the native women’s complaints.

In fairness, the allegations involve RCMP officers in one remote area. Nationally the force has made serious efforts to recruit aboriginal officers and special constables, to give officers cultural training and to forge closer ties with native communities.

Still, the relationship between the RCMP and some native women is frayed. It needs mending, now.

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